A recent social media post from Matthew Gray Gubler suggests the best way to bring Spencer Reid back for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2.
Matthew Gray Gubler as Spencer with Criminal Minds cast
SUMMARY
- Matthew Gray Gubler could potentially return to Criminal Minds: Evolution, and reuniting with Aubrey Plaza's Cat Adams could be the best way to bring him back.
- Cat Adams is Reid's most significant arch-nemesis in Criminal Minds, causing him substantial personal and professional turmoil throughout the series.
- Adams' return to the show could offer a compelling storyline for Reid's comeback, with the possibility of her escaping death row and seeking revenge against him and his fellow profilers.
Matthew Gray Gubler just showed exactly the best way to reunite Spencer Reid with the BAU in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2. The FBI's profilers successfully returned to the small screen via a grittier and darker procedural on Paramount+.
While essentially a continuation of the CBS series, with the majority of the cast returning to reprise their roles, there are some differences between the old and new incarnations of the series. The biggest one is arguably the absence of the BAU's golden boy, Reid, played by Gubler and an original cast member of the popular crime show.
There have been contradicting reasons for Gubler's Criminal Minds: Evolution's absence. Initially, it was thought that the actor passed up on the opportunity to return because he wanted to try other things in his career.
After 15 years of playing the same character, it's difficult to blame him for this, and all of his former castmates seemed to support that. Subsequently, it was revealed that it was a scheduling conflict that prevented him from joining the spinoff sequel.
Regardless of the real reason for him sitting out the show, Gubler may be poised for a Criminal Minds: Evolution return, and he may have shown the best way to do that.
Spencer Reid’s Best Arch-Nemesis In Criminal Minds Was Cat Adams
Gubler reunites with Aubrey Plaza, who played Cat Adams in the original Criminal Minds. Admittedly, it's quite odd to see them so friendly, considering their on-screen relationship in the police procedural. Reid has seen so many Unsubs throughout his years as a profiler, and he has also gone through so much, both professionally and personally.
That being said, no Criminal Minds villain has given Reid as much grief as Adams has. A deadly assassin, who is also a master manipulator, she was the reason for Reid's dangerous stint in prison. In the show's final season, she endangered his mom and new girlfriend in the hopes of ruining his life.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Bringing Back Cat Adams Is Enough Reason For Reid’s Return
Knowing well that it would be a conversation starter, Criminal Minds: Evolution immediately addressed Reid's absence. While the show never made it clear where the character was and what he was up to, Deputy Chief Bailey insinuated that Reid was assigned somewhere else, like Matt Simmons.
That said, he remains an official member of the BAU, making it easier to reincorporate him into the storytelling once Gubler can join the series.
Instead of just bringing him back, however, it's better to find a storyline that would pull him back to the team. Adams wreaking havoc and targeting his fellow profilers is arguably the most compelling way to do that.
Adams was supposedly executed for her crimes off-screen in the original show after her final ploy against Reid. As a master schemer, however, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that she could have talked her way off of death row.
Perhaps she was able to recruit some allies to help her escape, and now, after laying low for a couple of years, she is ready to resurface and execute her revenge against Reid in Criminal Minds: Evolution.
